ARMOURED VEHICLES (2022-2024) by the Czech Mint In 2022, the Czech Mint debuted a new four-coin series featuring one of my favourite things – tanks. This isn’t as popular a subject in numismatic circles, with military hardware seemingly less popular than ever, hardly surprising given what’s been going on around the world lately. However, the history of the first half of the 20th century has been a rich source of inspiration for coin issues, and the rise of armoured vehicles a key influence on the direction of warfare in the period. The series is [...]

MINT. TRADING COINS (2023-) by the New Zealand Mint Called Mint Trading Coins, they basically take the age-old swapping idea from baseball and bubblegum cards, and applies it to silver coins. Each range consists of 51 coins depicting characters from a specific media franchise. So far, we had Star Wars as the first series, and Marvel Comics as the second, with DC Comics dropping as the first of 2024. So far, of the set of 51 coins, 50 are one-ounce silver, with one a quarter-ounce gold. The coins are sold in a sealed black box which [...]

TAROT MAJOR ARCANA (2021-) by the New Zealand Mint For at least 600 years, a pack of cards called The Tarot, have been used to play games across parts of Europe, starting in Italy. However, starting in 18th century France, the cards captured the attention of occultists, and from there, the Tarot deck took on two distinct forms. Today, most interest in the cards is centred around their occult use in divining the future. The deck in this case is made up of 78 cards. Of those, 56 are divided up into four suits, each [...]

WORLD OF CRYPTIDS (2023) by Lithuanian Mint For centuries, the weird and mysterious has often been attributed to unexplainable creatures of the night. Regular coin collectors will know they’ve been a rich source of inspiration for some quite superb issues, in recent years, but most of them have been at the higher end. The Lithuanian Mint has debuted a new 12-coin series, apparently all to be issued through 2023, which will be more affordable. Called ‘World of Cryptids’, it will feature some of the world’s most iconic and mysterious creatures. The depictions, by artist Laimutė Varkalaitė, [...]

2015-2024 BIBLICAL STORIES by Scottsdale Mint Launched in December 2014, Biblical Series is produced by Scottsdale Mint, an American bullion company widely liked for its unusual bullion products like the Stacker and Tombstone series. Their first large venture into numismatic coins, the Biblical Series, is also one of the most ambitious in modern precious metal commemoratives. Designed to be released in sets of six annual coins, there will eventually be sixty in total, spread over a decade. While some series do reach these numbers, they're not generally mapped out in advance. Following the current [...]

2020+ CHIBI COLLECTION by the New Zealand Mint A phenomenon that has travelled far from its Japanese homeland, Chibi (ちび or チビ) is slang for 'short' and is applied to various pop culture genres today. Chief amongst those are the small, chubby caricatures with their tiny bodies and over-sized heads – also called super-deformed (SD). A popular style in anime and manga, and also with the Funko figures that are seemingly everywhere these days, we’re actually surprised the concept has taken this long to hit the numismatic world. If anyone was going to do [...]

2021 OLD TOWN SQUARE EXECUTION by the Czech Mint One thing the coin producers in Eastern Europe do very well showcase their history. Much of it is largely unknown in the West, but it's a rich, deep and often tragic one that is filled with themes and events ripe for numismatic attention. One such event happened 400 years ago in the capital of what is now the Czech Republic, Prague.Starting early on a June morning in 1621, 27 Czech Lords, Knights and Burghers were executed after taking part in a failed uprising against the Habsburg [...]

2020-2022 MYTHICAL CREATURES by the Czech Mint Our love for the mythical beasts of ancient lore has never been higher. With modern mega-budget movies like the Lord of the Rings and Harry Potter drawing in huge audiences, as well as the new legends that are inherent parts of the various superhero universes, the weird and fantastical remains a popular escape from the day to day life most of us lead today. There’s no substitute for the old legends, however, dreamed up in a time where belief trumped logic in the popular mindset. Tapping into [...]

DINOSAURS (2020-2021) by the New Zealand Mint One of several dinosaur series on the go through 2020, the New Zealand Mint's aptly named 'Dinosaurs' series leverages the mints antiqued and coloured one-ounce silver coin format to do the honours. They've used the style successfully on a few previous issues that we really liked, including the excellent 'Warriors of History; and 'Battles That Changed History' history ranges. The mint doesn't produce as many ranges like this anymore, having moved primarily into big pop-culture and media franchises. These are pretty coins exhibiting some decent, if unspectacular artwork.They [...]

2019+ ANIMAL CHAMPIONS by the Czech Mint A very nice series from the Czech Mint, Animal Champions has for its subject the record breaking creatures that push the envelopes of just what is possible in the natural world. The biggest, fastest, strongest of their types are represented, and done so in a striking style. Each coin is antique-finished and is struck in an ounce of fine silver. They're quite a standard format, eschewing colour, high-relief and inserts,and as a result are relatively affordable. The first year of release was 2019 and encompassed four issues, [...]